Stepping Stones
by Therm
Summary: A collection of short scenes, drabbles, half finished pieces and stories that never really made it. Mixed together for your enjoyment. Most are a little Daryl biased, but other characters present throughout.
1. Do Good

**Title:** **Stepping Stones**  
**Summary: **A collection of short stories between characters. Each story will come with it's own notes if needed.

* * *

_**1. Do Good**_

**Notes: **I was inspired by a quote I read from Andy Lincoln and basing this a little from the events of Sick and what happens after that episode.

* * *

_"Psst?"_

It was getting late.

C block was locked up for the night yet he heard the footsteps. No one could really leave this block without him noticing, not out on the perch as he was.

And of course it was Rick going. Only other one with keys.

By the time Daryl had pulled his shoes on, Rick was outside. That was when he drew his attention.

He noticed Rick jump a little at the presence, hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings at all.

Didn't surprise Daryl one bit though. He watched Rick carefully all the time. Might have saved Rick's ass more times than Rick was even aware of.

Rick seemed relieved to see Daryl there. "Everything okay?"

Daryl nodded. "Over here it is, how 'bout your side?"

Rick frowned a little at the comment. "How's that?"

"You're becoming a little distracted..."

Rick's frown deepened. "You got something to say?"

There was something like hurt on his face. "Yeah, get a fucking grip. Things are shit I get that, but you're leading them," Daryl pointed vaguely in the direction of the prison, where the others were. "You gotta lead 'em the right way."

Rick wiped a hand over his face, not meeting Daryl's look any longer. "You can do better, I suppose?" There was bitterness there. As well as harsh reminders of Shane. Those were dark times, they didn't want to be heading back that way.

Daryl moved purposely in front of Rick, so he had to look at him. "I'm the same as them. I'm following your lead but ya know what the difference is? If you take 'em down the wrong path, I think Maggie and Glenn and T might just have the guts to go their own way now. And if they go, the others might just go with 'em. But you're stuck with me, and you're stuck with your boy and if you fuck up, you're gonna kill us both."

Rick looked Daryl in the eyes, searched for any sign of a deception and didn't see anything like it present.

_Of course not,_ he scolded himself. _Daryl isn't like Shane. He's telling you the truth. _

Rick visibly relaxed and looked away from Daryl. "I'm sorry, you're right... I jus'..."

"I don't need it," Daryl interrupted. "Don't need no apologising or nuffin', jus' ... do good."

Rick felt a brief pat on his arm before Daryl headed back inside.


	2. Bridges

Notes: Based on Season 3 of The Walking Dead.

"Rick?"

Daryl rounded the corner just as his words echoed in, disturbing the peace between Rick and Lori.

And there had been much.

They were trying. His anger at her was starting to fade, the baby she'd carried and delivered pushed away that anger, because it was a baby. Whether it was his or Shane's.  
He never said it, but he thought their baby looked a bit like Carl when he was a baby. And he often noticed Lori look at the baby and then him, as if trying to see all the ways it looked like Rick.

As Daryl stepped into the room, they broke apart a little.

They were sitting close together and although married, they felt they should be careful when together having hurt one another so much already.

Upon seeing them, Daryl looked away from them, as though he'd caught sight of something he shouldn't have.

"Er... sorry," he said, retreating quickly.

"Daryl?" Rick called after him, but he heard the footsteps echo down the hall.

Lori looked at him. She wanted so bad for things to be right for her and Rick. For the others too. But she knew what she had to do. "You should go to him. he needs you."

Rick looked to the door where Daryl had been moments ago, and then back to Lori. And for the first time in a long time, he didn't want to leave her. But she was right. "I don't know how long I'll be."

"It's okay. I'll still be here." She promised him. And instinctively she reached for him as he passed, as she did so many times before. And he didn't shrug her off as he had been doing. His hand gently gripped over hers for a moment before he left the room.


	3. Burden

**3. Burden**

**Spoilers for Season Three, episode 1. **

* * *

Tense.

That was the word that best described it.

No one spoke. And she didn't understand it. She stayed close to Glenn, waiting for someone to say something, to explain it.

Daryl huffed when the silence stretched out and headed outside, slamming every door he could on the way.

Rick watched him leave, hesitated between going after him or not before he followed him.

"What happened out there?" Maggie asked.

Glenn and T Dog looked at one another, neither seemed keen to share the story.  
Carol and Lori were looking equally concerned with the lack of information.

"Merle," came the simple answer.  
Rick had come back in.

Carol opened her mouth but whatever she was going to say died on her lips and she stayed silent, eyeing the door where Daryl had gone through moments ago.

"Merle Dixon?" Lori asked.

"You know any other Merle's?" Rick asked, his tone changing as he addressed his wife.

"Merle? I thought he was dead?" Maggie asked.

"No," T Dog filled in.

Turning to Glenn she pressed on "You said when you first came to the farm he was no longer with you? What about that doesn't say dead?"

"He was missing, we didn't know..." Glenn started before trailing off.

"He was left behind, man. We went back for him. What else could we do?" T Dog said.

Maggie still looked confused. "You left him behind somewhere and went back and he was gone so you assumed he was dead? And Daryl was okay with that?"

"That's not the whole story." Rick added.

"S'cuse me," Carol said as she made her way past the others to head outside to where Daryl was.

Rick stopped her. "You might wanna leave him to cool off for a bit."

"What if he leaves?"

"We didn't force him to come back here." Rick reasoned.

"So what's the real story then?" Maggie pushed.

"Short version; Merle was acting an ass when we were trapped in Atlanta. We... I cuffed him and left him behind. We went back for him and he'd..." The words faltered. Rick thought about Hershel's leg and how the man had passed out from the shock. "He'd cut his hand off and escaped."

"My God!" Maggie said, seeing equal parts of guilt in all of their faces. They may not have all been there when this Merle was left behind, but it was clear none of them had fought hard to save him either.

And then Maggie just had to be with her Father. More than anything else, a dread crept into her.  
_They left him behind and he cut off his hand?  
Would they leave her Daddy behind too? If they had to leave?_


	4. Try

**4. Try**

**Notes: **Andrea and Daryl in the woods, searching for Sophia.

* * *

She wanted to find Sophia, but more than that, she wanted to get away.

Be free from Dale's watchful eye, away from Carol's sobbing and free from the damn RV and it's memories. She wasn't sure how much of Daryl just wanted to get away from it too, or how hell bent he was on finding Sophia, she was just glad they were outside of the RV and away from the freeway.

She hadn't spent much time with Daryl. In fact, she'd never spent any time with just him. And strangely, she found him good company. She followed his lead and was impressed by how good he was. Quiet, focused yet still able to hold a conversation with her, not that he did much of the talking.

They'd hear twigs snapping somewhere and even though he kept them pressing onwards, he was alert to everything, never relaxed, always wary.

She found it comforting. The same way Shane offering to teach her how to look after her own gun gave her a little spark, Daryl letting her tag along felt like he was saying to her 'watch me, learn from me', because he'd never say it, but the fact he hadn't outright shot her down in her request made her believe he must want her there.

Maybe he just wanted the company too. Because it was lonely and her and Daryl had lost the same thing, a sibling. There was something special about that relationship. Being the oldest, she often remembered Amy as a baby and feeling like her parents didn't have time for her when she needed them the most during those difficult teenage years. It was always about Amy then and part of her had been bitter about her sister getting all the attention. She stopped thinking about that. She didn't want to go there, to a place where she resented her sister and the guilt would start all over.

The words slipped out before she'd even really thought about speaking them. "What's Merle like as a big brother?"

He seemed to be a little surprised by the question and his attention was taken away from what he was doing for a while as he seemed to lose himself in memories. She decided to cut him some slack.

"I was thinking about Amy. What a terrible older sister I was. I never saw it from her point, not until... so, I just wondered what the younger sibling point of view was like."

He paid her little attention, focusing back on the task at hand, tracking and preparing for attack, but he looked thoughtful a moment before he talked. "Merle was a pretty good brother, I guess," Daryl started. "He was never doing the stuff he said he would but I guess I was a pain in the ass to him when he was going through his..." he veered off a moment, looked sharply through the trees towards a noise that only he'd noticed. "..difficult teenage years."

Andrea nodded as though she understood that only too well. "Amy always wanted me to do silly things with her. She always wanted to camp out, roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories in the middle of the night. She was too young, I was too old... "

Daryl made a noise which she assumed was agreement. "Merle always said we'd do stuff. He was always gonna take me huntin' and he never got round to it. So I took myself. Then he got himself in bigger trouble and, it all kinda went shit from there."

"Do you miss him much?"

He shrugged. "Not so much. He wasn't around much and I know he's out there. He's not helpless. Chances are, he'd be the last son of a bitch still standing if this thing wipes everyone else out."

Andrea smiled at that. "It must be some comfort, knowing he's a survivor. Amy... she'd... we just don't have that instinct you two have."

Daryl spared her a glance. "You're not doing too bad. Considering."

"Considering what?"

"Considering you had a normal life before. You know, people like me and Merle, this ain't that much different from before. Less rules for him so it works out even better, but for people who followed rules, and kept them... s'gotta be hard."

"You think Rick and Shane are desperately wanting to arrest some people?"

He smirked slightly. "Maybe write a ticket at least."

Andrea smiled until it naturally left her features, the thought of Carol and Sophia coming back to her. "I can't imagine how hard this is for Carol. How she can even bare to face the day."

"How'd you do it?"

She smiled somewhat bitterly at the memory. "Are you kidding, I've barely coped."

"You done better than you think. Still here, ain't ya?"

"Not if it wasn't for Dale," and she tenses slightly at the thought of him saving her, making choices for her forcing her hand in this. She might never be able to forgive him for it.

She could feel Daryl's gaze upon her, but it was really too dark to make anything out she was certain. She still felt like he probably knew though... how she felt. He was one of those people that just knew.

"I get why you're pissed at him. He's a nosey ol' bastard," Andrea laughed at that. "But you ever really think about it?"

"About what?"

"'bout what he did?"

"Constantly!" she said, as if it wasn't clear enough.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Think it's a bit pathetic if nobody gives a shit enough to even try and save ya,"

Andrea thought about it and looked towards Daryl. He shrugged, knowing she was watching. She thought about Jacqui. No one thought to save her. She talked T Dog out of it before he even started. Maybe it was because they knew her mind was set... maybe it was because nobody really knew her well enough to care and the idea sent a chill through her.  
People would miss her if she'd gone. Dale at least. That was something, right?

"Thanks for letting me come out with you," Andrea said.

"Free country."

"I get that you like your own space, so I appreciate it. That you let me come. You're probably better off out here on your own."

Daryl shrugged. "Nice for Carol though, right? That it ain't jus' me out 'ere looking."

Andrea nodded. "Nice for you too? Maybe to have a bit of company."

"Sure," he said, without more conviction, but somehow, she thought he was probably telling the truth still.


	5. Pity

**5. Pity**

Note: Originally going to be a longer story, I just decided to salvage this small portion of this story.

* * *

He knew he'd die, but he didn't think it would be like this.

On a road, arm spilling blood because he was a clumsy oaf and a geek closing in on him. This was about right. It was because he was black.

He remembered back at their first camp outside of Atlanta, how he'd joke about it with Jacqui one night that the two of them were first on the hit list. And she'd laughed along and told him not to be an idiot, touched his arm and called his sweetheart in that way she had.

But she was gone already and he was about to join her.

And there was nothing that could make it worse. Or so he thought.

He saw the redneck just behind the walker coming towards him and he thought that he'd probably love to watch him get eaten. Revenge for how he'd left his brother. He was sure that he looked about as afraid as he ever had in his life and he prayed that if Daryl had a heart, he'd see his fear and pity him enough to spare him an agonising death.

Daryl told him to be quiet, not to call for help and he watched as the other man quickly dispatched the geek. And the next second, he was moving T Dog flay on the ground and pulling a corpse on top of him and T Dog didn't even mind because he realised, he was saving his damn life.

He couldn't see what the redneck did while he lay there and seconds later he heard the moans and shuffling footsteps of the walkers as they passed them by.  
His heart hammered loudly and he was certain that any second, one of them would just know there was fresh blood ready for them and he'd be ripped apart.

He could deal with dying, but not by one of them, not ripped apart and eaten slowly. But before he'd even realised it, the walkers were a distant sound and Daryl was moving the dead weight from him and looking at his arm, material ripping as he attempted to stop the bleeding somewhat.

"You saved my life, man," T Dog whispered in slight awe that he'd even bothered to do it.

"Don't flatter yourself. He starts to eat ya, then the rest'll stay and eat ya too. And then we ain't goin' nowhere." Daryl didn't look at him once as he spoke.

When he finished with T Dog, he looked around carefully, made sure no more walkers were close by and then he stood up slowly.

For now they were safe.

"Stay there."


	6. Broken

**Notes: **Another story that was set to be a 'missing scenes' fic for 'Judge, Jury...' but I got to the end of this bit and then I wrote the next scene as a stand alone piece and this got left behind.

**Original Notes:**_ This is the second 'Missing Scenes' fic I've completed and decided that I'd make it into a 'Missing Scenes Series'. This series, as you can tell will not have any order to it in regards to episodes and I may go back to an episode I've already done if something else strikes me as missing or unexplained enough for my liking. And if you have suggestions of anything you might like to see me take a crack at, please PM me, or leave a review asking. I can't guarantee anything but if it's something that had never crossed my mind, I'd certainly look at doing it. _

* * *

Rick never actually asked anyone to do it.

How could he?

The good law abiding cop, the man who was supposed to enforce the right of others wanted the truth behind Randall and his group and it wasn't going to come out with manners. Even if it did, they'd not be able to trust his word, because people who wanted to lie to you would do so if they had nothing to fear.

There was only two people that would be able to find out the truth in the group, Shane & Daryl.

Lori sat and watched the three men from a distance. They'd all decided, as a group, that they needed to find out more about Randall and the people he was with, but since then, they'd made little progress on how to go about that.

She watched them and bits of their conversation floated towards her. Shane wanted to kill the kid, straight up, even offered to do it himself if Rick let him, but Rick couldn't agree to that, he had to give the boy a chance. Most of the arguing was between those two men, going back and forth between life and death and Daryl just watched them until he finally said he'd talk to him.

That silenced the conversation, and even Lori, who'd been absently wiping over some of the plastic plates they had with them, stopped what she was doing. Because when Daryl said he'd talk, they all knew he didn't mean he was going to sit down and talk to the kid.

Shane hung his head down when Daryl said it, like it was a terrible thing Daryl was about to do, and Rick fought inwardly between the rights and wrongs of the decision. Eventually, he nodded, and with that, Daryl walked back to his tent, picking up his crossbow and heading out across the fields.

Rick sighed heavily and walked across towards Lori, sitting besides her. She abandoned the plate as soon as she did, putting her arms around him, trying to comfort him the best she could while he made these awful decisions that she knew he hated to make. She whispered quiet words of comfort to Rick and after sitting their together, comforting one another, she eventually looked up, she felt Shane's eyes on her immediately.

She saw the heavy bruising to the side of Shane's face and was reminded of how the two of them returned from trying to take Randall out and ditch him before. It was strange that the two men had barely had so much as a difference of opinion before the world changed and now the rules were gone, their difference seemed to be almost overwhelming. She couldn't quite believe that these two men had been friends for years when deep down, it seemed they were so different to one another.

She looked back at Rick and rubbed his arm gently. "It'll be okay," she soothed him, not sure whether she was talking about Randall or the conflict between him and Shane.

* * *

It was nothing but a passing comment, nothing that would mean anything to any of the others there but it meant something to Rick.

They group and Hershel's family had gathered and discussed what was to become of Randall. After much back and forth between the group and Dale, the one man fighting to save the kids life, it came to light that everyone was simply too afraid of what might happen with him there to risk anything else.

Dale was incredibly upset at the prospect of them killing the boy and as he left the house, he stopped and spoke to Daryl, saying "This group is broken," and somehow, since then, Rick hadn't been able to think of anything else.

He was aware that Dale had talked to everyone in that room, trying to see if they wanted to try and spare Randall his life, and it was apparent to Rick that during Dale and Daryl's discussion, Daryl must have stated that the group was broken. Whether Dale had fought the comment at the time or not Rick wasn't to know but he was agreeing with Daryl summation now. The fact that a member of the group thought that to start with made Rick start to doubt the job he'd done here. He clearly wasn't leading them as he should, otherwise the group would be strong, united.

When he thought of how things had been recently, he had to admit, he was failing them. When Sophia had gone missing, he hadn't been able to find her and once Carl was shot, he barely spent any time searching for her himself, leaving Daryl in charge of it and occasionally helping. He should have done more looking for that girl, maybe things would have turned out differently if he had. He and Shane were at one another's throats constantly. Things weren't easy for any of them especially considering Lori's pregnancy, but the fact that he and Shane had gone out of town and just ended up brawling was dangerous as hell and he knew they were lucky to be alive. As for the others, Carol was broken by her daughter's death, T Dog was still healing from his arm injury, and he wasn't sure the last time he'd asked after him, in fact, Glenn was besotted with Maggie, Carl seemed to be going out of his way to do the opposite of what his parents asked, Andrea wanted to be one of the boys and managed to upset the other women as she tried and Daryl was so far removed from the group he'd physically removed himself from them. Dale, well after today, he wasn't sure he'd have the man on his side ever again.

He had to think of something to bring the group together, especially if they wanted to convince Hershel to let them stay.

* * *

It always seemed to come down to the three of them.

Since the attack on camp when they had the bodies to bury, Daryl had noticed that it became Shane, Rick and him to do these sorts of jobs. He wasn't quite sure how it worked out this way, not when there was the possibly more trustworthy T Dog or Glenn to use, but somehow, along the way, with all his fighting against Rick back at camp and in Atlanta, he'd managed to become... well, he wasn't sure what he'd become really, but Rick sought him out for certain jobs, trusted him to take them on.

It wasn't like people had never trusted him before, but only to do certain things, things idiots could do, things he couldn't possibly get wrong, but this was an ex-cop, and Rick was an ex-cop only because the world went to hell and there was no police force any more. it almost made no sense for him to be the guy they trusted with this stuff.

The job at hand right now, the impending execution of Randall, well that was the sort of job he expected to get. He was mildly surprised when Rick had insisted to both he and Shane as they went to collect their prisoner that he'd pull the trigger. Another one of those things Rick thought he had to do.

But neither of them were to argue with him and it wasn't until the kid was on his knees, begging that Daryl saw Rick's weakness, because when he'd insisted back at the quarry that they didn't take another man's life when Daryl had wanted to take out Jim, he could see now that he really meant it. This kid, while possibly dangerous if he returned to his group wasn't a threat right here and now and that made putting a bullet through his skull hard for Rick.

Although he wavered, neither Daryl or Shane would step forward because to do that would strip away some of Rick's dignity. If it had to be done, he wanted to do it.

And then Carl appeared and as Shane went off to deal with the constant runaway kid, Daryl looked to Rick and saw that the slight hesitation he had before his son had started to act as a one boy cheerleader for death had become a lot more noticeable. Rick told Daryl to take him away and that surprised him, he expected Rick to still make the shot.

He had nothing else to do but take Randall back and lock him away until they decided what to do with him later.

* * *

The world was shit.

Messed up and everything about it... it was shit too.

Rick came back with Carl after he was supposed to kill the kid Randall, but he hadn't done it. Wasn't a big shock, but T Dog had expected Rick to get Shane or Daryl, probably Daryl, to do it if he couldn't.

Andrea went off to find Dale and at least a couple of people would be happy that night. But that's when it went shit.

A yell was let out across the field and the group wasn't together. Shane, Glenn, Daryl, Andrea and Dale were all off somewhere that wasn't their camp and all they knew is that someone was screaming. Rick yelled at him to get a shotgun and he didn't waste any time following the order. By the time he got one, Rick and Lori had already started racing across the field and he followed the lights he could see as they headed towards the noise. He could see others lights coming from other directions and gathered that it was the rest of the group coming together from where ever they were to help. He thought he heard Andrea call out Dale's name, but he wasn't sure, the sound of his own breathing made everything a little harder to hear but he couldn't disguise the sound of Dale's yell of pain. He pushed himself to run faster and seconds later another pain filled cry filled the air and the idea of what was happening and what he'd see filled his mind with fear.

Someone reached the point they were heading for, in the darkness it was hard to tell who it was but he could see they took out walker.

When T Dog got there, he wasn't sure what he could do. Dale's guts were all heaped up on top of him and the man couldn't say anything, just make pain filled gasps and groans. Andrea was at his side in an instant and Rick stayed in charge, calling for Hershel, reassuring Dale things would be okay. Everyone else just stood around, looking on and feeling useless. There was nothing any of them could do and T Dog would be amazed if there was a way Hershel could fix this problem. The man's guts were hanging out. When Hershel arrived just a few seconds after T Dog, he knew immediately there was nothing that could be done for the man, and Rick's angry cry was pretty much how he felt. Andrea cried louder and all around him, T Dog noticed the others, even Hershel's family who barely knew Dale look away at the vets prognosis. They were going to stand here and watch this poor man die in agony. T Dog could barely believe it.

He looked around at the others, Glenn barely holding back his tears, Lori was at Hershel's feet, crouched by him, head down, Shane kept looking away from the prone man. All of them were at a loss of what to do.

Rick crouched down beside Dale briefly but seeing the man in so much pain, Rick couldn't bare it and he quickly stood up again.

It was Andrea who spoke up. She'd said little since getting there, mostly tried to comfort him while sobbing at the hopelessness of it all. But now she asked for someone to do something. They could all see the pain in the man's face, unsurprising when you saw the state he was in and it was Rick who drew out his gun. Hershel and Shane were flanking Rick and neither could look at him or Dale as he pointed the gun at the older man's head, ready to end it. T Dog noticed when he looked away himself that no one was looking in that direction now, just Rick. He watched Rick, couldn't look at Dale any more, the pain he saw on the man's face would be in his mind forever as it was. He briefly saw Andrea turn her head from Dale, but she didn't leave his side. She had to be there for him, but she couldn't watch.

T Dog watched Rick take aim but nothing happened. He didn't fire, couldn't maybe. He watched as Shane also noticed Rick's delay and when Shane looked at Rick, he had to turn away. T Dog couldn't see the look on Rick's face but he knew the man had to be having a hard time trying to do such a grizzly task. He saw someone move and noticed Daryl step up to between Rick and Shane and taking the gun from Rick. He couldn't watch any more and turned away from Dale. he wanted more than anything to run from here and put as much distance as he could between himself and this horrible scenario before him, but it was too late.

He heard Daryl quietly speak to Dale, "Sorry brother," was all he said before the gun shot ran out and the only sound left was the echo of the gunshot and the sobs of the remaining group.

* * *

Shane was a dog.

One of those yappy dogs that wouldn't stop barking but wasn't actually ever going to attack you. For all the talking he did, he seldom seemed to spring into action, not when it was needed.

He'd been waiting, while Dale had been dying, he'd waited for Shane to step up and take over from Rick because there was only so much one guy could do. Yet it hadn't happened. Shane looked at Rick and just waited for him to do the dirty work. And when he looked and Rick and saw that he was struggling with it, he simply looked away.

Fuck it, was all he'd thought. Nobody deserved to die like that. he didn't have a gun with him, just a knife and he wasn't likely to use that to finish off Dale, so he reached for Rick's gun. They shared the briefest look and Daryl saw something in Rick's eyes then. Gratitude, he guessed. He didn't want to have to do it either, but it needed to be done. If it was him down there, he'd damn well want someone to fire a bit quicker than anyone had.

Once he'd fired he was grateful that the old man was silent, he couldn't stand any more of those noises he was making. The others continued to cry though and when he stood up he realised just how devastated they were. Even Hershel's family were crying. Glenn was holding Maggie's hand tightly, both crying, T Dog was turned away from the body, crouched on the floor, looking to be equally distraught, Carl was in his mother's arms. Daryl wordlessly handed the gun back to Rick but didn't meet his eye. They all stood around that way for a while. The shock of what had happened began to wear away and even though it was now late, none of them would sleep tonight.

"We need to bury the body," Rick eventually said. "He should go with the others."

"I'll start on that now," T Dog offered straight away and headed back towards the camp.

"Wait," Rick called, "I don't want anyone walking around in the dark on their own. Everyone in pairs at least from now on."

They all nodded their heads and Carol, Glenn, Maggie and Patricia all headed back with T Dog.

"Lori, you and Carl should go with them," Rick suggested and Lori nodded, trying to keep Carl from looking at Dale's body. It was a gruesome sight.

Andrea was still by Dale's body and didn't appear to be going anywhere. Rick shared a look with Shane, and Shane stepped up to her, gently helping her up. She stood up but hesitated when he tried to lead her away from Dale's body.

"Look we need to go back and get a sheet, right? We'll drive a car over here and come get the body. Can't leave him out here, okay?" She nodded numbly and the pair walked off together.

Just Hershel and Rick remained now. Daryl pulled out his gloves, same ones he'd used when he gutted the walker with Rick while they looked for Sophia. "What are you doing?" Rick asked.

"I'm gonna stick his guts back in," Daryl replied.


	7. Move

**Note:** A fic started that never really went any where. A bit of angry Daryl angst from Season Two.

Daryl didn't regret moving away from the group.

At first, he'd get a few random visits from them when they wanted him to do something, and occasionally Carol came to try and talk him in to returning back with them. But their life down there was like one of those soap operas on TV, all drama and secrets and he was best of out of it.

Rick had come down as well one time, not long after he'd moved away from the rest of them. He didn't try and talk him into returning, just told him that he could come back any time he wanted and that if he needed anything, just to ask him. Daryl hadn't even replied. Just huffed at Rick as though the idea that he'd need the group was a joke and carried on ignoring the man.

For his part, Rick left then. He didn't try and force it. He'd said what he wanted and he'd left and that was it.

He knew the real reason why he'd moved away was nothing to do with the group though, at least not like he pretended it was. He moved on after they found Sophia in that barn. He didn't want to see Carol mourning for her daughter everyday and the dead look in her eyes. He couldn't bare it.

But the crying was worse.

He could hear her at night, even if everyone else pretended they couldn't and started awkward conversations to mask the sound. That was the moment he decided enough was enough. The next morning he'd upped and left, early on in the morning before most of the others were awake. T Dog had been on watch, and when he'd seen Daryl up so early and messing around with his belongings had asked him what he was up to. Daryl had no reply for him, just kept up with sorting his things out and T Dog went quiet.

Strangely, no one seemed to ask him why he moved away, they just accepted it and carried on. There was a chimney stood in the field by a nice old tree and Daryl felt that would be the place for his own personal camp. It was close enough to the group that should any of them call for help, he'd still hear them, but far enough away that he was unlikely to be visited often.


	8. Deceit

Notes: I don't read spoilers, so nothing here is a spoiler unless by accident. If I knew a plot point, I'd never be a big enough douche to post a story about it. I over think things on the show a lot so yeah, this happened.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Merle Dixon. Merle Dixon was walking straight towards them. Maggie had her gun aimed straight at him, and Glenn spoke quietly to her _'Let me handle this.'_

"This must be my lucky day!" Merle said, smiling. The sort of smile that always gave Glenn the creeps when he'd been a member of their camp back at the quarry. His eyes went up and down Glenn and he knew he was checking how much of a threat the man was, what weapons he was carrying. And then he did the same to Maggie, though he eyed her longer, smiled a little bit more as he stared at her.

Glenn had to swallow don't the voice that threatened to escape him to get his eyes off of her. _Remember what this guys like_, he chided himself.

"Ya seen my brother?" Merle asked.

He didn't even think about it, his head was shaking no before he even realised it. "Not for a long time," he said. Unintentionally, his words echoed Andrea's.

Merle looked down for a moment, lowered his weapon. "Well damn," he muttered. Looking back to them he spoke again. "Seen a black girl with a big sword run this way?" Glenn shook his head no. "Ya see her, be real careful. She's a little nuts."

"Right," Glenn said. He had lowered his own weapon by now, only Maggie still kept hers trained on Merle, although she wasn't aiming to kill any more.

Merle looked around himself for a moment. "So, when did ya last see my brother?"

"Well we left the quarry erm... but he er... he wanted to go back to look for you. Back to Atlanta. He went back for you but then we headed back to camp and... we thought you'd be there. So yeah, he took off. To find you."

Merle nodded. "That so," he said thoughtfully. "Figure he mighta had the luck to run into me by now. Damn shame. So where ya heading? Jus' the two of you now?"

Glenn shook his head. "Maggie's family too. We're somewhere safe. For now,"

"We need to get back," Maggie said.

"Oh yeah, you be on your way, don't let ol' Merle stop you."

Maggie looked at Glenn then. She couldn't remember why she'd heard the guys name, but it was only a matter of time before she put the pieces together. "C'mon," Glenn said, hurrying Maggie back to the car.

As they got in and drove off, Glenn kept an eye on Merle. Watched as he followed the path the car was taking. "Damn," he muttered.

"How do you know that guy?"

Glenn looked torn as to what to say to her. "Merle Dixon."

And then it came back to her. She remembered with clarity Glenn and T Dog turning up with drugs from a guy called Merle Dixon. She remembered mostly because she'd confused Daryl as being him to start with. And then she realised. "You don't think Daryl's gonna wanna see his brother?"

"You think Merle's the kinda guy we wanna take back to the prison? Besides, he's got a vendetta against Rick. It's sort of his fault Merle lost his hand. We take Merle back and the state Rick's in, one of them will probably end up dead."

Maggie sighed. "Glenn, if Daryl finds out about this..."


End file.
